Tragedy struck the legal community as Monroe County Chief ASA Manny Madruga took his life this week. Here is the Keys article on the tragedy.
Many of you know Manny as a top notch trial lawyer and State Attorney Cathy Vogel's right hand in running the Key's State Attorneys Office.
Manny was a great prosecutor and that is how he would have wanted to be remembered. Being a prosecutor was all he cared to do, and tragically, when it became apparent that Dennis Ward, who used to be the State Attorney and was defeated by Vogel six years ago only to win the current election, was not going to keep Manny on as the chief assistant, Manny took his life.
While Ward's actions were a cheap political shot well beneath the dignity of the office he will soon hold, he doesn't bear responsibility for this tragedy.
Some things....the actions some people take...the feelings they have...they pain they are suffering, are unknowing and unknowable. And sometimes tragedies occur that cannot be explained.
Such was the case this week in Key West.
Services for Manny Madruga will be on the Friday after Thanksgiving in a church in Key West.
See you in court.
There had to be other things going on with Manny Madruga than just being fired. He could have worked for another month. He had lots of options. He could have easily gotten a job in another circuit as a prosecutor. He could have gone into private practice and in 4 years he could have ran for office. He ran for a judgeship once and he could probably have been elected next go round as we have some really bad judges now. Ward in his first term made Manny the ASA. When Vogel won she kept him in that position. Some have speculated that Manny felt guilty about Vogel lossing re-election due to a controversial case where Vogel and he were critized for letting time run out on filing a death penalty case that was controversial. Vogel lost because she is a bad prosecutor and lied to the citizens. When she was running last time, she won the primary over Ward. Then in the general she ran against her old boss Mark Kohl and said if she won she would not hire him and he said the same thing. Then she turned around and hired him as executive director with a six figure salary. She didn't hire him as an attorney because he was a terrible attorney. In 2008 Kohl was in Key West only 38 days out of the entire year. It is Ward's right to decide who is ASA is and other top employees. No elected official is obligated to keep people who are involved politically against them in this context. Mark Kohl was a crook and I proved it in court. I sued Mark Kohl for illegal political dirty tricks which included using NCIC/FCIC for political purposes and though it had nothing to do with his office or duties, he convinced the state to pay his attorney fees. It took him 5 YEARS with a state hired attorney paid $145,000 to finally defeat a pro se plaintiff. He also illegally wiped all the computers in the office when he was defeated in 2008. Vogel did the same thing in 2008 and is not much better than Kohl. There is a great deal of corruption the public knows nothing about. Trying to blame Dennis Ward for this tragedy is a simplistic idea that is not actually supported by the facts. In addition, nobody is ENTITLED to a job in Florida and certainly not under any Republican administration.
ReplyDeleteHow do I find the case of you vs Kohl
DeleteThanks for the kind words about the paassing of Manny Madruga. He will be missed.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday, November 22, 2016, there will be a viewing for him at 6 p.m. in Miami at Bernardo Garcia Funeral Home, which is located at 8215 Bird Road, Miami, FL 33155.
On Friday, November 25, 2016, there will be a Mass at 3 p.m. at St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica in Key West. Following, there will be a Celebration of Life at Duval Square at 4:30 p.m.
Never ceases to amaze me how even in times like these some jerk takes the opportunity to hammer people needlessly. Is it really necessary, KeyWestDan, for you to hijack the post about man's suicide and community's loss to bash people like that? Really? Can't you allow Manny's friends and families an opportunity deal with the pain his death assuredly has caused before sharing your rant?
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@keywestdan - would love to chat. Sounds like you have good insight on KW.
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